The Exact Opposite
by Karen Weasley
Summary: Rose Weasley lives her life in an attempt to make her mother proud, but what will happen when Scorpius Malfoy turns everything she knows upside down? Written for the QLFC and in first person POV (Rose's POV).


**Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition Round 8. My task for this round was to write a story about Rose Weasley. My optional prompts: (quote) "Sometimes it's the smallest decisions that can change your life forever" – Keri Russell, (quote) "The higher you climb, the further you have to fall" – Malorie Blackman, Noughts & Crosses, and (color) periwinkle. I hope you enjoy!**

 _ **The Exact Opposite**_

I should have known better. I know I should have known better, and I knew at the time that I should know better, but I couldn't stop it from happening. All I had ever wanted was to be smart like Mum and make her and Dad proud of me. I set off to Hogwarts with that clear intention in mind, and for a while I succeeded.

My first few years were wonderful as I became top of my class, impressed every professor, and spent my limited free time with my many family members that attended school with me. One of the few people I spent time with outside of my family was Albus's best friend from Slytherin: Scorpius Malfoy.

Despite being a Weasley, I didn't mind Scorpius as it was obvious the hatred that had plagued our parents' school days was long gone. Besides, he was often quite fun to be around! Only he could manage to convince me to do things I knew my mother would disapprove of.

But as I said, everything was fine, and I continued to uphold the image of the perfect Ravenclaw bookworm who was, "Just like her mother," by all accounts. However, that all ended when I returned to Hogwarts for my all-important fifth year.

" _Sometimes it's the smallest decisions that can change your life forever," – Keri Russell_

I walked into my usual compartment to meet up with Albus, my favorite cousin (if you can choose a favorite, that is), but I was greeted by a head of blond hair instead.

"He went to say goodbye to his parents, but you're welcome to have a seat, Rose. It's not like we don't know each other," Scorpius teased with a smirk.

I couldn't speak. I was too busy staring at his longer, windswept hair, his sparkling eyes, and his handsome face. How had I not noticed that before? I felt my stomach begin to clench, my heart begin to pound, and my palms begin to sweat, and I knew what that meant.

"Rose?" he called snapping me out of my thoughts. "Are you alright there?"

"Yes I'm fine," I breathed. "Sorry, I just…you changed," I blurted out and immediately felt my face redden.

Scorpius laughed. "Thanks I guess."

I wanted to disappear into the nearest floor, but I instead sat down and buried my flaming face in a book. There was an awkward silence until Albus finally came back in, and he and Scorpius began discussing quidditich.

"Slytherin has a good chance this year with everyone that finally left," Albus insisted.

"It all depends on who the other houses pick up," Scorpius argued. "For example, maybe we could get Rose to try out for Ravenclaw, and then we'd have a real challenge on our hands."

I froze behind my book. Sure I was good at quidditch, great even if I was honest with myself, but I could never try out for the team and especially not this year! My mother would have a fit if she found out I was splitting my attention during OWL year, and my father would go along with her just to keep from getting in trouble himself.

"What do you think Rose? Wanna have a go at me one-on-one?" Scorpius asked, leaning back against the seat.

"You know I can't," I whispered, not putting down my book.

"Why not?" Scorpius demanded.

"Because her mother would kill her if she found out," Albus sighed. "We all know that."

"Screw what your mother thinks!" Scorpius snapped. "She's got you glued to that library chair all the time, and I know you don't like it as much as you pretend to."

"What is that supposed to mean?" I slammed my book shut.

"It means that if you would live your life the way you wanted to live it, you'd be out on that pitch for tryouts, you'd actually have friends outside your family, and you wouldn't care so much about your grades!" Scorpius seethed. "I'm tired of watching your mother rule your life, Rose."

"She doesn't!" I insisted. "This is what I want!"

"I don't believe you, and I don't think you do either!" Scorpius growled. "You could fly rings around anyone else in your house, and you're going to sit out just because you're afraid of your mother getting upset with you."

"Quidditch won't make your grades fall, Rose," Albus reasoned. "Plenty of smart people play."

"But…" I tried, but Scorpius cut me off.

"No, you're coming to tryouts this year if I have to personally drag you there myself, Rose. I will save you from this boring life you're pretending to live."

A month later, I was part of the Ravenclaw quidditch team and spending more time on the pitch than I was in the library…and I was secretly enjoying it. It was such a small decision to listen to Scorpius that day on the train, but I had no idea what it would end up leading me to.

" _The higher you climb, the further you have to fall," – Malorie Blackman, Noughts and Crosses_

My participation in quidditch led to more than just getting me out of the library. Scorpius seemed to have made it his personal goal to make me have fun, so he spent a good deal of his free time dragging me around behind him as he pulled pranks worthy of my uncle, spent weekends in Hogsmeade, and relaxed by the lake.

The months we spent together did nothing to dampen my new feelings for him – if anything, they only got stronger. I began to notice the way he looked when he laughed, when he smiled, and when he was concentrating hard on something. I loved everything about him, and I knew that as upset as my mother would be about my playing quidditch, the idea of me dating (Scorpius Malfoy no less) would probably send her to St. Mungo's.

She believed that as an "independent woman" I should be able to get through school without dating too much only to get married to someone who wouldn't try to tell me what to do (her own marriage with Father was living proof of her logic). Scorpius certainly didn't fall into this category, and I was beginning to see that I didn't either.

I didn't mind it when Scorpius took the lead and planned things for us, and I certainly didn't mind it when he talked me into things like quidditch that made me happier. Sometimes I thought that he knew me better than myself, so why shouldn't I let him help me?

While I was fighting this battle with myself, the OWL's snuck up on me, and when the testing began, I realized I had not studied nearly as much as Mother would have liked. Now, of course I studied and knew I did well, but I also knew that my results would never meet her standards, and my year of freedom was about to end in a grand fashion.

I had enjoyed quidditch more than I had ever dreamed, but I knew that Mother would make me quit. My friendship and growing feelings for Scorpius had made me happier than ever, but I knew my mother would never approve of him, and the thought of losing him or watching him with another girl broke my heart.

This was the state that Scorpius found me in before the summer holidays began. I was sitting by the lake in our spot, the periwinkle of my summer dress almost perfectly matching the lake in front of me, and I was thinking about all I stood to lose when he came and stretched out beside me.

"Going back to your old self?" he sighed, the disappointment evident. "I don't want to lose you to that again, Rose."

"I don't either," I admitted. "I like who I've become this year, and I'd love to continue being this way, but you know what my mother will do when she sees my OWL results. They're going to give everything away, and then she'll make me quit quidditch, and she'll make me stop seeing you, and she'll-"

"Hang on, why would she make you stop seeing me?"

"You talked me into it," I covered quickly. "She'll see you as a bad influence."

"I'd love to see her try and keep us from being friends," Scorpius laughed. "You wouldn't let her, would you, Rose?"

His voice sounded almost desperate in that moment, and my heart broke a little. "I've climbed so high this year…I just don't want her to cut me down."

"Then don't let her," Scorpius pleaded. "Tell her that it's your life not hers. She had her time here, and this is yours. You have to live the life you want to live or else you're not really living, are you?"

He always had a way of making me see things in a way that it made sense to me. I could never figure out how he made it seem so easy, but he could usually convince me of anything once he explained it.

"What can I do?" I cried. "Once she starts, there's no stopping her, and I can't escape!"

"Come to me," Scorpius whispered.

"What?"

"Come to my house," he repeated. "If she starts on you when the results come out, just take some Floo Powder that night and come stay with me. Mother would be thrilled, and Father wants to meet you after that match against us he saw. I'd rather have you with me anyway."

"Really?"

"Well, yeah," Scorpius looked embarrassed as his cheeks turned pink. "I-I like you, Rose, and I want to be around you. Is that weird?"

"No," I grinned, and I felt my heart swelling with hope at his words. "I like you to, Scor."

"So, you'll come stay with me?" he asked hopefully.

"Yes, I will," I promised.

A few months later, I drug my trunk through the main hall of Malfoy Manor having just Flooed into the main dining room. Scorpius came tearing down the stairs and only gave me enough time to drop my trunk with a thud before he was spinning me around in his arms.

"You're here," he breathed into my hair.

I simply clung to him tighter, too emotionally drained to come up with an answer.

True to form, my mother had lost it when she saw my OWL grades. They weren't bad by any means, but they certainly were not all O's and an E in DADA like hers had been. I had half expected myself to beat around the bush with lies before finally giving in, but Scorpius's voice in my head encouraged me to simply tell the truth and be strong about it.

I saw a gleam of pride in my father's eyes when I mentioned quidditch, but the anger in my mother's eyes far outweighed it. When I finished telling her about the season, she flew into a screaming fit telling me that I had thrown away my future on a game, and that she hoped I was happy with my decision. She demanded to know where I had gotten the idea from, and when I told her about Scorpius, she screamed some more.

That was my breaking point. I started shouting right back, telling her in no uncertain terms that I was going to live my life the way I wanted to from now on, and nothing she said could stop me. I wanted to keep playing quidditch because I liked it, and I wanted to pursue a relationship with Scorpius because I loved him, and if she couldn't be happy for me, then she would just have to deal with it.

I disappeared to my room for the rest of the day, and took Scorpius's suggestion that night. With him, I felt safe. I felt like the me that I wanted to be and no longer the repressed bookworm I had been playing for so long.

"I think I love you, Rose," Scorpius muttered, brushing the hair from my face. "I know it's probably not a good time, but I had to tell you."

I swear my heart stopped in that moment. I couldn't believe what he had just said to me, but I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face as I began to process the truth. "I think I love you too, Scor," I breathed back. "You've made me into the person I want to be."

Scorpius shook his head fondly. "Oh Rose, you were her to begin with. I just helped bring her out."

I know I shouldn't have let him come in and change my whole life around with a few simple words. I know I should have just continued on my parents' set path and been successful in my mother's eyes. I know I should have just ignored the feelings in my heart that day on the train, but Merlin am I ever glad that I did the exact opposite.


End file.
